Wednesday, December 29, 2010

We had a wonderful time this Christmas with all of our family. We spent Christmas Eve at my mama's house & shared Christmas Day with Larson's mama & sisters, Larson's daddy, then back to my mama's for supper. I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would because Larson had me unwrapping all of Jubal's gifts & frankly, we weren't really thinking about the camera because we were having so much fun with Jubal on his first Christmas!
Here are a few pics that did get taken. I'll just let the pictures tell the story. :)

Our little family

Jubal has the cutest expressions!

Jubal the bright-eyed reindeer & Bozley, our Chihuahua

Always smiling

Alannah & Jubal

Mammaw & Jubal

*This pic & the next few were taken without the flash on, which is why they look this way.

Friday, December 24, 2010

I probably will not blog again until next week sometime because I have some time off of work & intend on spending EVERY minute of it with my family! I want to go ahead & wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Remember why we celebrate. Happy Birthday, Jesus!!!!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

While at the mall a couple of years ago, my then four year old nephew, Spencer, saw kids lined up to see Santa Claus. Having been taught as a toddler that Christmas is the holiday that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, he asked his mom, "Where's the line to see Jesus?" My sister mentioned this to my dad, who immediately became inspired and jotted words down to a song in just a few minutes. After putting music to the words, and doing a quick recording at home, he received a great response from friends. He sent the song off to Nashville without much response, except for a Christian song writer who suggested adding a bridge at the end of the first chorus. My dad then asked if I wanted to record the song to see what we could do with it. I listened to the song, made a few changes to the words to make it flow better, and we headed to Shock City Studios.

It was at the studio where Chris, owner and producer, rewrote the 2nd verse and part of the chorus... with goosebumps and emotions high, we were all hopeful and felt like we had something special. The demo was recorded in just under 2 hours and sent off again to Nashville.. still no response. Then 2 weeks before Christmas last year, my cousins Greg and Robbie decided to do a video to see what we could accomplish on YouTube. The first day we had 3000 hits and it soared from there. We received e-mails, phone calls, Facebook messages from people all over asking for the music, CD's, iTunes, anything... we had nothin'. After a couple of meetings with Chris following the amazing response, we got serious. We headed back into the studio this past spring... this time with guitars, drums, bass, pianos, choirs... the real deal.... and here we are today. Getting iTunes set up, a website put together, and loving that thousands upon thousands of Christians have come together... remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

Out of the mouths of babes come profound truths that many adults can not understand. Hopefully Spencer's observation will cause people all over to reflect on the love of Jesus, and that one day we will all stand in line to see Him. We are most thankful to our Heavenly Father to have this chance to share our music with you. Merry Christmas everyone.

On Sunday, December 19, we got up early & headed to Savannah so Mr. Jubal could meet Santa for his very first time. We got to the Savannah Mall around 11:15 & went to Bass Pro Shop to wait for Santa. He wasn't due until noon, so we walked around and let Jubal & his cousin Alannah look at everything in Santa's Wonderland. They had a table set up where Alannah could color or make an ornament, but she didn't want to sit still long enough to do that. She was too excited about going to the lower level to see all the big fish. Ha! While we waited in line, Mrs. Claus came out and greeted all the little ones and Santa even came out to say hello. Jubal just took everything in. He loved all the colors and lights and hustle & bustle going on around him.

And then came Mrs. Claus...

And Santa even made an appearance before getting cozy in his big ol' chair...

Finally, it was our turn to enter...

And Jubal got to meet Santa!

Jubal's very first picture with Santa

After we let Jubal & Alannah tell Santa all about everything they wanted, we went downstairs so Alannah could see the fish. She loved all the fish, especially the "Big Fish". Jubal didn't quite understand what all the excitement was about. Ha!

Alannah & the "Big Fish"

I just love walking around the mall at Christmas time. I love the sights, sounds, and smells. They always have it decorated so pretty and Jubal, of course, LOVED all the people scurrying about. We did a little shopping (I got my new tennis shoes!), and went into The Savannah Candy Store. We probably shouldn't have done that. Ha! We ended up getting one white chocolate-caramel-pecan cluster (for me) and one milk chocolate-caramel-pecan cluster (for Larson). Mmmmmmm!!!! So good! Of all the candy Alannah had her choice of, she picked a SpongeBob Crabby Patty! I told her she should get something that couldn't be bought at just any convenience store, but she got what she wanted, bless her. :)

We went into Spencers and played around for a few minutes. I took some cute pics of Jubal with my phone & got a really funny pic of my hubby.

His hands are never idle & my phone doesn't take good motion pics, but...

Isn't he soooo cute?!?

My little reindeer

Haha!!! My FABULOUS husband! Oh, how I love him so! We have so much fun together.

Of course, we can't forget about the train ride. We just had to go on the train ride. Larson gets to do all the fun stuff while I take pictures. Ha! No really, I don't mind because I want to capture it all & if he didn't take the pictures I wanted, well then...I would just be devastated!! Just kidding, but you know... I made sure to take some pics of Jubal's first train ride. I even got a little video, too. :)

Goodness! We still have to go on the merry-go-round, too. It really didn't seem like we spent that much time at the mall, but as you can see from the pictures, we had lots of fun. I love a carousel! I have several small ones that I've collected over the years. If Jubal had been a girl, I would have probably decorated his room in carousels and passed all my collectibles on to her (had he been a she). Guess I'll be keeping those, unless Jubal has a daughter, and then they will be hers.

I love the pictures I've gotten of Larson & Jubal on the merry-go-round. I was looking at the difference between these pics and the ones I took of them at the fair back in October. It brings tears to my eyes just how quickly my little baby boy is growing.

We didn't stop there, either. After we finished having fun at the mall, we went to Olive Garden to have a late lunch. It was Larson's first time eating there. He has decided the next time we go he's just going to get spaghetti. He's not a big pasta (or Italian food period) eater. He prefers steak & potatoes. Italian is my fav! I wanted him to try some Calamari but he wasn't going for that, even before I told him what it was. I did get him to try the Bruschetta. He didn't like that, either. Alannah had her trusty chicken fingers & fries. Ha! These folks just don't know good flavor! I hope Jubal likes different foods when he gets older.

When we left the restaurant, we went to Keller's Flea Market and looked around for a bit. Larson got two of his Christmas gifts from there, and Alannah found her a cute little ring that we got her. Jubal & I just enjoyed walking around looking at everything. They started shutting everything down about sunset, so we went on to Walmart. I love Walmart!!! We got all of our Christmas shopping finished up there. You can always find something for everyone at Walmart.

We ended up leaving Savannah around 7:30 & getting home about 9:00. After the long ride home, we managed to muster up the energy to get all the presents inside, but I was too tired to even attempt to wrap any. All I wanted to do was snuggle with & rock Jubal in the recliner. He must have been worn completely out, too, because even though he slept all the way home, he went right on back to sleep in my arms. My precious boy...thank you, God, for my precious boy.

I'm so happy our day went so well. It was definetly a great day. Jubal is such a wonderful baby! Everyone continued to compliment us on how content he is. He justs smiles & giggles all the time. I know he probably won't remember this trip to the mall to see Santa, but we hope to make it a tradition & go back each year. It was a day very well spent. I'm already looking forward to doing it again next year!!!

Friday, December 17, 2010

We went to have dinner with the new owners of the company I work for last night. We enjoyed an evening of great food & good conversation. Their home was beautiful & Mrs. Colette had everything decorated so pretty for Christmas. She actually had 5 trees up, but I only took pictures of these three.

This is the biggest tree in her living room.

This one is in between her foyer & dining room.

This one is in her breakfast nook.

She also had one in their office and one at the first landing going upstairs.

I had to throw in a picture of their fireplace/mantle.

It was so cozy.

Immediately, when you walk in, you feel at home.

P.S. Jubal made himself at home, too. It was nice & warm inside their home, which is why he came out of his britches. Haha!!!

A little about me...

I'm a 44 year old mama to two precious (savages ha!) boys named Jubal Talon & Gentry Slade. I'm married to my frog-turned-prince charming, Larson, and we live in a small town in southeast Georgia.

This blog is a journal that I like to keep specifically for my boys. I want to keep up with as much of our life together in these fleeting moments as possible so that maybe one day Jubal & Gentry will have something to look back on.